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Troubledclef, you will get many more answers if you ask this question as a separate thread. However my take on this problem is always to work on problem areas of a piece first. There may be more than one causing concern so I would split the piece up and just work on those for a while before learning the whole piece and playing through. I am nearing the first year of learning so pieces I take on can have as many as four problem areas. I work each of them in isolation before attempting to put them together.

There are of course pieces where the problem is just an overall one. O Sole Mio says that it is a new style of bass so if that is your problem then practice very slowly (rushing only ingrains mistakes) with hands separate and then hands together. This can take days or even weeks before eventually it feels more natural.

A classic mistake is to play from the beginning to your problem area and then almost come to a halt or start making mistakes and then start from the beginning again and repeat until frustration sets in. All you are doing here is practicing what you know already and not working on the problem.

Hello, everybody. I'd like to announce that I have finished book 1 and have now moved on to Alfred's 2. It took me 2½ years to finish book 1 which seems to be longer than most people, but I have finished it, and I am proud.

The good news is that the first couple of songs in book 2 are a lot easier than these bonus pieces at the end of book 1. In fact, I am told that if you can do the bonus pieces in book 1, then you can handle anything in book 2 So those bonus pieces lay a good foundation for future learning.

To summarize:I had no teacher.It took me 16 months to get through the original ending of book 1 - (Amazing Grace).It took me another 14 months to do the 5 bonus songs at the end.I practiced on average about 5 times a week, 2-3 times a day for short periods 5-15 minutes.It would have benefited more by practicing for longer periods in one sitting, which is what I started to do lately.

So, I want to wish good luck to everybody here, and I hope to see you in the Alfred's 2 thread in the future.

Congratulations, Johnny! It took me two years also, and I didn't have those extra bonus pieces to deal with. I'm still not done with Book 2 after another 2 years. I'm slow but I'm determined. Good luck with your new book.

Thanks, ajames, and I'm with you about pedalling. It's like once you learn the song, you have to learn it again, except this time with the pedalling.

Actually, I'm still polishing up Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas while I attack the new book. The pedalling on that song is a real pain, but I have to admit that it sounds really good on the last line.

I wrote a little while back about not being able to 'hear' the tune when I played 'Good People'. After getting some advice I gave up trying and and focused just on playing the correct keys. Yesterday I decided to revise by going back to the beginning of the introduction to Major keys - especially as I'd discovered that I hadn't understood that sharps and flats referred to each occurrence of that note in each octave. However, I reached 'Good People' again last night and had 'forgotten' that this was the one where I couldn't 'hear' the tune coming through - and as soon as I started playing it, I immediately could hear the tune/melody/whatever, even though it's still slow and a bit laborious, I can now hear it 'emerging'. Result!

These jazz songs tend to only sound proper if you play with the jazz rhythm. That is, you are playing the long-short-long-short eighth notes, instead of strictly following the notation. This is even recommended at the bottom of the page (somewhere on one of the jazz pieces).

Thanks Daniel for yr comments and yes that makes sense. I somehow doubt whether I'll ever quite master that jazz rhythm, but feel that if I can 'hear' the tune I'm trying to play then, for the time being, that feels like progress.

Today I had a piano lesson. Initially when I started (in March this year) I was sure I didn't want to have lessons - felt that wd put me under pressure and I don't want that - just want some help to learn to play the piano at my own pace for my own enjoyment. There's a Music School in a town nearby which has a coffee shop and I've gone there a couple of times recently and without any prior planning, I asked about piano lessons and one was arranged for today. The lady who teaches was very understanding - seemed happy to 'meet me where I am'. She suggested some books on scales etc - commented on posture and hand placement etc. I played 'Little Brown Jug' (very badly - it's a traditional piano and the keys felt so much heavier than my Yamaha) and she made some helpful comments, but also commented that I was doing 'nothing wrong'. She knew the Alfred course and made 'approving' comments about it. It was a half hour lesson - was enough for me. I feel comfortable with the teacher - feel that she understands what I want to achieve and seems happy to help me in that. I didn't feel pressured in any way - have left it that I'll make another appointment when I feel ready - not keen to have regular lessons at the moment - just want to get some reassurance as well as some guidance.

Thanks Moonraker - can't quite believe just how this teacher, and the whole setup at the music school seems to fit my requirements so well. It's almost on my doorstep and yet I didn't think it would be 'for me' - sort of assumed it was for 'proper musicians'!!

The most helpful part of my lesson on Thursday was when my teacher commented on the 'wrong' placement of my fingers when playing Little Brown Jug (F Major) - didn't get past the first line where there are harmonic (?) intervals. I was unable to play the interval 'b flat' and 'd' or 'e' with fingers 1/3 and 1/4, as show, so I improvised using 2 and 4-5. She showed me how to slide my fingers up the white key past the beginning of the black key, enabling me to play those intervals with ease. I have seen this explained in a video online some time ago, but had forgotten. This has helped me tremendously - makes sense to use the whole key and not just a couple of inches at the bottom.

I am so glad to read about everyone's success with this book. I have just begun my piano lessons last week, using Alfred's basic adult lesson book. I am at the very very beginning: still trying to strengthen my fingers, to work on my hand positions, and to read notes. They are hard, but all your success stories have motivated me to try even harder. Thank you for sharing them.

PS, what is the different between the basic version and all in one lesson?

Welcome yaoyao2m. I started in March this year with Alfred's Adult All-in-One Course which I think is excellent, so I'm not sure about other versions, but if you're having lessons your teacher should be a good guide to how you're progressing. Best of luck.

Welcome yaoyao2m! The all-in-one includes theory and technique (and a few more pieces, particularly a few blues and jazz) while the basic does not. With the basic book you can get separate theory and technique (and blues and jazz) books. That is my understanding anyway, I have the all-in-one.

Still crunching along, hope everybody else is making progress as well.

Started weekly lessons (I've had 3 so far), pretty amazed at how badly I play in front of the teacher. I've just been focused on learning the pieces, not on performance. Doing some recordings helps some (red dot fever!) but playing in front of a person is much worse.

Just started in on "The Entertainer" so I'm getting close to the end. My instructor wants me to try memorizing "Scarborough Fair", he says that is a worthy endeavor and should help with the performing thing.

I bought a Zoom h4n audio recorder. My DP doesn't have a dedicated line out (that's one way Casio crippled the PX-150 vis-a-vis the PX-350) and I haven't been able to get satisfactory recordings using the headphone out. The Zoom will also work later when I get an acoustic (someday).

Hi all, I began to teach myself the piano using Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course book 1 a couple of weeks ago and have so far managed to get to page 54 (now my brain and hands are fighting against my progress and won't allow me to get to grips with Blow The Man Down).

I was just wondering whether, when I eventually manage to finish the book (which is probably a very long way off) is it worth switching to the All-In-One course? Does the second book follow on exactly from the Basic first one, albeit with the theory and other stuff thrown in? Or does it make more sense just to continue with the basic series?

Hi Wolf616 and welcome to the forumThe Alfred basic edition does not include any theory as I understand it and therefore you are missing out a great deal of important information. If you are self teaching I would address that issue.

As to the books themselves most people make rapid advances and then reach a speed bump. Blow the Man Down is a common piece to trip up the beginner. You simply need time for the fingers and brain to adapt, so get into the habit of only practicing a piece for a 20 minute session once per day playing it very very slow. Each day you will find a small improvement to built upon. The increasing difficulty means pieces take longer to learn and master so this is something you have to accept and work through.

Of course you can proceed and learn no theory but you may regret that at a later date so my advice would be to switch to the "all in one" books and make up for any lost theory. There are a few youtube teachers (some free) that would be fine. I happen to like this one here

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Learning piano starts by taking all your confidence and then over many years drip feeding it back to you

Thanks for the advice guys, I think I will switch to the all-in-one course after this one.

Originally Posted By: earlofmar

Hi Wolf616 and welcome to the forumAs to the books themselves most people make rapid advances and then reach a speed bump. Blow the Man Down is a common piece to trip up the beginner. You simply need time for the fingers and brain to adapt, so get into the habit of only practicing a piece for a 20 minute session once per day playing it very very slow. Each day you will find a small improvement to built upon. The increasing difficulty means pieces take longer to learn and master so this is something you have to accept and work through.

Yep this is what I have been trying to do. Blow the Man Down remains a struggle, but I have managed to make a lot of progress on a song with similar characteristics in the All Time Favourites book (Ach Du Lieber Augustine). Hopefully once I've mastered that one the other will come much easier.

I have been learning some theory but by reading other books rather than any Alfred ones - so I haven't skipped it completely! I will get the accompanying Alfred theory book though (thanks ajames) until I move onto the all-in-one book 2 as these Alfred ones seem to be really good! I might even get a teacher...